Great expectations
Mar. 16th, 2006 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dar_jeelingNo, wait--come back! This post doesn't contain a single word about Dickens, I promise.
*thinky face*
Do recs influence me, and if so, in what way?
Quite obviously, I began wondering about this because of the recent flood of recs for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
synecdochic's "Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Lose". I was quite busy when it was first posted, so I had already seen several recs before I got around to reading it.
Now, I really liked the story (I mean, how could you not? Even if the plot is not your cup of tea--this is quality writing, people.), but I think I wasn't as...awed as I could have been. Because of the recs I had high expectations and while I wasn't disappointed, I missed my own, personal gasp of "My God, this is so good."
In contrast to that, I clicked on the link torageprufrock's "Hindsight" without any anticipation/reservations because there were positive as well as negative reviews floating around.
Another story that received many compliments iscesperanza's "MVP", an example for expectations of a different kind. Like synechdochic's story it came with recommendations, but this time, any bias in regards to the story was cancelled out because I was already biased about the author.
Expecting to like stories by certain authors is not necessarily a bad thing, however, in some cases it can have its disadvantages. The first fic byamireal I read was "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" and I loved it beyond reason. When I saw she had written a new one, I dropped everything and ran to read it. It was not at all bad, but it paled in comparison and I was pretty damn meh about it, which taught me that every story's a new game.
I've noticed that, in general, one rec (from a reccer I trust, mind you) doesn't raise my expectations. Yes, I does make me think that it'll meet certain standards (e.g. grammar), but it's more like a second summary. However, if the reccer points out that the structure or pacing or whatever was especially good, I'll pay more attention to that, of course.
Right. Enough blahblah from me for one evening.
*thinky face*
Do recs influence me, and if so, in what way?
Quite obviously, I began wondering about this because of the recent flood of recs for
synecdochic's "Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Lose". I was quite busy when it was first posted, so I had already seen several recs before I got around to reading it.Now, I really liked the story (I mean, how could you not? Even if the plot is not your cup of tea--this is quality writing, people.), but I think I wasn't as...awed as I could have been. Because of the recs I had high expectations and while I wasn't disappointed, I missed my own, personal gasp of "My God, this is so good."
In contrast to that, I clicked on the link to
rageprufrock's "Hindsight" without any anticipation/reservations because there were positive as well as negative reviews floating around.Another story that received many compliments is
cesperanza's "MVP", an example for expectations of a different kind. Like synechdochic's story it came with recommendations, but this time, any bias in regards to the story was cancelled out because I was already biased about the author.Expecting to like stories by certain authors is not necessarily a bad thing, however, in some cases it can have its disadvantages. The first fic by
amireal I read was "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" and I loved it beyond reason. When I saw she had written a new one, I dropped everything and ran to read it. It was not at all bad, but it paled in comparison and I was pretty damn meh about it, which taught me that every story's a new game.I've noticed that, in general, one rec (from a reccer I trust, mind you) doesn't raise my expectations. Yes, I does make me think that it'll meet certain standards (e.g. grammar), but it's more like a second summary. However, if the reccer points out that the structure or pacing or whatever was especially good, I'll pay more attention to that, of course.
Right. Enough blahblah from me for one evening.
